The TERA Website has word that the En Masse store now offers sales of the "Night Mare," a new mount for TERA that sells for USD $24.99, close to half the price of the game itself. No word on whether it comes pre-equipped with horse armor. Thanks Massively.

Holy crap. I was really thinking about buying this game as I really enjoyed the combat system while playing the betas, but holy fuck I'm glad I didn't. Any company that does ridiculous shit like this should be shunned. Fuckin 25 dollar horse!? Common! This is just blatant money grubbing trying to milk their small fan base for everything they can.

Verno wrote on Jun 27, 2012, 10:53:I used to subscribe to the argument that "oh who cares, dont buy it". The trouble with that is that there are many people who will do so for whatever reason (impulse, aesthetics, etc) which just encourages the development of similar content since it is cheap and easy to produce.

I see the "no one is forcing you to buy it" and the "people will pay what it's worth" mantras thrown around like candy online by people who act like it's sensible. Reality is, much like many theories in physics and the metrics of supply and demand, these concepts only accurately apply to isolated systems. I find it strange that people can't take that extra leap of thought and realize that simply leaving things to objectivity when dealing with anything remotely related to humans is farcical. Yes, MMO's themselves and their markets are often quasi-isolated (which is why their markets are so wonky), but once real money comes into play it is no longer isolated. At that point, it IS my business, and I DO have a right to say if it's stupid or not, as I am invested in the general economy. Lest I want my gaming experience to be dictated by Blizzard/Ubisoft DRM with EVE-like coups, D3 auction houses, and YouTube/Twitch surveillance, that is.

I find the price for something so insignificant to be absolutely outrageous, but I think this becomes a "to each his own" type thing. Still, seeing this stuff become more and more prevalent makes me fear the day is coming when all your 60 bucks gets you is the game engine and base assets, and everything else can be had for a "low, low price of <enter ridiculous sum here>". I hate this new trend.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi

How many items are people paying for now, or will pay for in the future that would've normally been typical in-game rewards? If you dig deeper, you can even make the related statement that our old FPS maps and add-ons were not only free, but community generated (another argument).. but now we see dev houses charging for what was once free content, now sold in DLC packs.

I feel as the nickel and diming continues to grow, we're going to be paying for a lot more than we really should be, and that stuff will be things that aren't necessary, but make the game a lot more enjoyable.

I don't know where that eventual line will be drawn, but I am curious to see how far these people will attempt to drive it.

Of course there's a long story about what ensued after the release of it, involving things like as much as 10-25% of their subscribers leaving, Eve's developers publicly apologizing and refocusing their continued development, the content release with said monacle being dubbed "Monaclegate", etc. etc.

NKD wrote on Jun 27, 2012, 12:09:Well, more existent than an over-priced meal which lasted half an hour and ended up being flushed down the toilet anyway

When my wife complains I spend too much on games (a few hundred $ a year), I make the same point: I will play that $10 game for 5-10 hours (or 200, like Defense Grid) which is a lot more enjoyment than the $10 sandwich she bought but could have made at home for $2.

NKD wrote on Jun 27, 2012, 11:17:New rule: You can't complain about relatively spendy online pixel items unless you can post your financial information and show us that you haven't wasted $25 on something non-essential recently.

After all my bills are paid, the refrigerator is stocked, and my gas tank is full my only expenses are beer and cigarettes... and fuck you if you tell me they aren't essential!

I hope you buy only store brand food, and get all your clothes at the Goodwill. Otherwise, waste waste waste! Everyone wastes money on something unnecessary, that's kind of my point

But you're actually saving yourself some money with the smokes! All those years you won't be alive are years you won't be spending money.

Verno wrote on Jun 27, 2012, 10:53: The trouble with that is that there are many people who will do so for whatever reason (impulse, aesthetics, etc) which just encourages the development of similar content since it is cheap and easy to produce.

Supply and demand. Clearly this is something that enough people want to make it profitable.

Honestly, look at the sports angle again. You think this affects people? I live in NY state. The fucking Mets and Yankees get new stadiums - teams and a sport I care nothing about - and I get to foot some of the bill with my taxes.

Compared to that, they could charge people $100 for a virtual mount and I could care less.

Edited for stray apostrophe. Those damn things, always popping up where they don't belong.

NKD wrote on Jun 27, 2012, 11:17:New rule: You can't complain about relatively spendy online pixel items unless you can post your financial information and show us that you haven't wasted $25 on something non-essential recently.

After all my bills are paid, the refrigerator is stocked, and my gas tank is full my only expenses are beer and cigarettes... and fuck you if you tell me they aren't essential!

I hope you buy only store brand food, and get all your clothes at the Goodwill. Otherwise, waste waste waste! Everyone wastes money on something unnecessary, that's kind of my point

There's a difference between not being wasteful and being frugal. It's not wasteful to buy name brand food and clothing, but it's not very frugal.

But you're actually saving yourself some money with the smokes! All those years you won't be alive are years you won't be spending money.

Indeed. If I'm not dead by the time I'm 60 I'm going to ask for a refund.

NKD wrote on Jun 27, 2012, 11:17:New rule: You can't complain about relatively spendy online pixel items unless you can post your financial information and show us that you haven't wasted $25 on something non-essential recently.

After all my bills are paid, the refrigerator is stocked, and my gas tank is full my only expenses are beer and cigarettes... and fuck you if you tell me they aren't essential!

I hope you buy only store brand food, and get all your clothes at the Goodwill. Otherwise, waste waste waste! Everyone wastes money on something unnecessary, that's kind of my point

But you're actually saving yourself some money with the smokes! All those years you won't be alive are years you won't be spending money.

Steele Johnson wrote on Jun 27, 2012, 11:43:Who cares if it encourages more content for sale? Again, you don't have to buy it. It doesn't alter your existing game. When a friend has a nicer car than yours and paid a certain amount of money that you wouldn't pay, should the car manufacturer stop making the nicer car?

The car analogy is flawed and doesn't even relate to my post. I'm not talking about keeping up with the Joneses, talking about the direction that the sort of quick, cheap content could push the gaming industry. It might not change the existing game but could affect future game development, I'm not sure anyone could really argue it isn't when you look at the proliferation of cash shops and one off items in games these days.

You could say it doesn't affect the quality of the product and I couldn't argue with that right now, we still get plenty of great games despite a lot of shitty DLC and virtual items. I do worry about where that path will eventually take us and find the nature of things whose sole purpose seems to be so that others can purchase it (the Kim Kardashian effect) a bit dubious. To be fair though I sold people a bunch of stuff in Diablo 3 so I am part of the problem as much as anyone else

Well, more existent than an over-priced meal which lasted half an hour and ended up being flushed down the toilet anyway